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Thursday, 17 November 2011

Gut-wrenching violence in 3D

{ Movie Preview: Immortals }

Eons after the Gods won their mythic struggle against the Titans, a new evil threatens the land. Mad with power, King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) has declared war against humanity. Amassing a bloodthirsty army of soldiers disfigured by his own hand, Hyperion has scorched Greece in search of the legendary Epirus Bow, a weapon of unimaginable power forged in the heavens by Ares. Only he who possesses this bow can unleash the Titans, who have been imprisoned deep within the walls of Mount Tartaros since the dawn of time and thirst for revenge.

In the king’s hands, the bow would rain destruction upon mankind and annihilate the Gods. But ancient law dictates the Gods must not intervene in man’s conflict. They remain powerless to stop Hyperion, until a peasant named Theseus (Henry Cavill) comes forth as their only hope. Secretly chosen by Zeus, Theseus must save his people from Hyperion and his hordes. Rallying a band of fellow outsiders—including visionary priestess Phaedra (Freida Pinto) and cunning slave Stavros (Stephen Dorff)—one hero will lead the uprising, or watch his homeland fall into ruin and his Gods vanish into legend.

So goes the synopsis of the 3D epic movie, Immortals. Directed by Tarsem Singh, the movie is no doubt beautifully filmed with crystal clear images and visuals that only the 3D technology would be able to produce. That, unfortunately, would also mean that all the beheading, clawing, smashing and gut-wrenching violence, that pretty much summed up the movie, were shown in all of the 3D gory (I mean, glory).

And, if there is a movie that you should read the synopsis before going for the movie, this would be it. The script fell flat and in the midst of all the fight scenes, I lost track of what was going on. The characters were not built up properly, and most of the times, I felt lost.

Why did Stavros suddenly decide that he would fight for Theseus? Why did the giant tsunami kill only the bad guys and not the good guys? When did Theseus and the virgin oracle Phaedra fall for each other that warrant the brief "I-can't-feel-the-love" love scene? Why did King Hyperion single Theseus out? How did Theseus suddenly rally the army together? Why did they fight in a narrow tunnel when the army stretched out into the horizon? Oh, and how come the bodies did not pile up in the tunnel?

Oh, and remember to check out those headgear, helmets and masks donned by the Gods and the mortals. With the gold-studded mask and crab-claw-on-a-Venus-flytrap headgear, no wonder King Hyperion was angry all the time. I was amazed that his minions could still take him seriously with that on.

And what the hell was happening on Poseidon's head? Kellan Lutz of Twilight fame (he played Emmett Cullen) may have worked out to get that body, but that headgear did nothing for him. Well, it did make me try not to laugh out loud every time he was on screen.

::: Footnotes :::

I caught the movie preview on Tuesday 15 November, before official opening in Singapore courtesy of UIP Singapore and omy.sg. The movie was officially released in Singapore on 17 November 2011, and is rated M-18. Visit the official website here.